The Rupp Report: 2015 – A Busy Year

January 6, 2015

The Chinese Lunar year, which starts February 19, will be the reign of the sheep. Sheep are said to be friendly, calm and moral people. Sheep years are traditionally years without major ups and downs. In China, they say the sheep is a peacemaker or creator of harmony. The sheep loves justice; this is the only way to true peace in the imagination of the Chinese.

Clouds Over The Economy?
However, 2015 didn’t start very well: Worry about the future of Greece and the crash in oil prices stressed stock exchanges around the world. Fiery debates about Greece’s so-called “Grexit” from the Eurozone are shaking the global economy. On top of that, there is a rumor that Greece’s exit could be acceptable to Germany, which until now was the strongest defender of the existing Eurozone. But let’s look ahead of a tight schedule for the textile and textile machinery industry this year

Techtextil
One of the major events in the world of industrial textiles is Techtextil in Frankfurt. Every three years the show is the highlight of this ever-growing sector of the textile industry. This year it will take place May 4-7, 2015. No one who is involved in this sector of the industry, or sees a possible future in it, should miss this tradeshow.

For the North American market there also will be a Techtextil this year, to be held June 2-4, 2015. This year the event will take place in Houston.

ShanghaiTex
As always, China is at the forefront of the global textile industry for an endless number of reasons. When ITMA Asia was established in 2001 in Singapore, the idea was to stop too many Chinese exhibitions such as ShanghaiTex and CIMTE. The result is very well known, and at least CIMTE is these days combined with ITMA Asia. But ShanghaiTex continues, and will be held this year from June 15-18, 2015.

ITMF Annual Conference
Another very important global event will take place in the United States this year in San Francisco: ITMF’s Annual Conference. This global summit of the entire textile industry will be held October 4-6, 2015. As ever, the Rupp Report and magazines from the Textile Industries Media Group will be an ITMF partner. This event certainly will highlight the latest developments and trends in the global textile industry, and also will emphasize the latest achievements of the U.S. textile industry.

ITMA Europe
Last, but not least, the mother of all textile machinery exhibitions will be held November 12-19, 2015, at Fiera Milano Rho, Milan, Italy. As previously mentioned in The Rupp Report, for the first time in its history, ITMA will take place in November, because from May 1-October 31, 2015, the Expo Milano 2015 will take place at the same newly built fairground. The Italians are very happy and proud that after such a long time – the last ITMA in Italy took place in 1995 – the show is coming back to the land of fashion.

The Rupp Report, along with Textile World, Textiles Panamericanos and Textile World Asia, will be present at ITMA Asia not only with a booth to welcome readers but also a team of specialists in Italy to cover each sector of the textile machinery industry and provide in-depth and comprehensive reports about one of the most important events of this year.

In-spite of all rumors about the current “value” of an ITMA Europe, the floor space for the show is virtually sold-out. The top 5 countries in terms of space booked are Italy, Germany, Turkey — yes, Turkey — Switzerland and India.

The Rupp Report had previously informed its loyal readers about some problems with the construction of the EXPO buildings. However, on a recent visit to Milan before Christmas, the Rupp Report was told by staff from the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers that “everything is on its way and there should be no problem for ITMA 2015.”

We Will Be There
Many textile people will travel this year to cover all these exhibitions around the globe. This is also the case for the people and staff from the Textile Industries Media Group, either by attending shows with a booth or as reporters. As in previous years, the specialists will be happy to welcome the readers and to cover these and many more important events to provide useful information.

In the meantime, the whole staff of Textile World, Textiles Panamericanos and Textile World Asia wish all their readers a happy, successful, and most of all a, healthy New Year. Thank you very much indeed for all signs of appreciation in the past year.

And don’t forget, the sheep nags until justice is reached. So you are recommended, dear reader, to be honest and sincere with everybody, particularly in this year of the sheep.